VIDEO: Rare footage shows Leeds tramways in the 1950s before closure

Alex Evans, Head Of Social Media

Leeds might not be getting a trolley bus system any time soon, but go back 60 years and the city had an amazingly extensive tramway system.

As this rare footage shows, the double decker electric trams which ran across the city were a jewel in the city's transport infrastructure.

Spotted in this video are trams running down Dewsbury Road and several other key parts of the city.

The earliest trams were single decker horsedrawn trams, but later purchases were double deckers, operated by Leeds Tramways Company.

Even as cities were abandoning their tramway, Leeds continued to overhaul and refresh its system.

Two prototype modern single-deck trams similar to those in Sheffield today were built in the early 1950s, in particular a single deck tram painted purple for the Queen's Coronation, was in operation on route 3 to Roundhay in 1953, a segregated track along Roundhay Road to Roundhay Park. This "